The field of the invention is silicone based amine oxides. The silicone amine oxides are non-irritating, high foaming products that are substantive-to substrates like fiber, metal hair and skin. They also possess good detergency.
The reaction of tertiary amines, for example of the fatty alkyl-dimethylarine or di-fatty alkyl-methylamine type, with an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution gives the corresponding tertiary amine oxides. Such amine oxides have good foaming properties and irritate the skin little and can be useful as constituents of cleaning compositions and body care compositions. Tertiary amine oxides are widely used commercially as organic surfactants. Such surfactants have properties that make them very useful in shampoos, hair conditioners, dish and laundry detergents and the like. In these applications, the tertiary amine oxides are employed as aqueous solutions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,742 (Sebag, Vanlerberghe) discloses a silicone amine oxide made through the reaction of a silicone ester from undecylenic alcohol and acetic acid reacted then with a secondary amine. This patent will deal with the silicone amine oxides derived from silicone dialkylaminohydroxy compounds. This is a reaction product of a silicone epoxide with a secondary amine to produce a silicone tertiary amine. This is then reacted with a peroxide to form the amine oxide. The amine oxide provides solubility to the molecule and gives it surfactant properties.
The present invention relates to a series of silicone based amine oxides. The compounds of the present invention have (a) a silicone portion of the molecule, (b) a fatty portion of the molecule and (c) a polyoxyakylene portion of the molecule. The variation of the ratios of these components alters the performance of the products in terms of foam, substantivity and solubility in oil, water and silicone fluid.
The objective of the present invention is to provide a series of silicone based amine oxides that vary in composition. By proper selection of the raw materials of the resent invention, the process of the present invention can be used to provide a series of silicone amine oxides that have different ratios of (a) silicone portion of the molecule, (b) fatty portion of the molecule and (c) polyoxyakylene portion of the molecule, thereby offering differing functional properties.